Device for the care of infants.



K. VAN R. GINN.

DEVICE FOR THE CARE 0F INFANTS.

APPLICATION FILED nEc. I6. I9I5.

l ,2 l 6,43 .Patented Feb. 20, 1917.

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K. VAN R. GINN.

DEVICE FOR THE CARE 0F INFANTS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 16. |915.

LQMBSB., Patented Feb. 20,1917.

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" @FFlDEt KATRINA VAN R. GINN, OF DEL MAR, CALIFORNIA.

DEVICE FOR THE CARE OF INFANTS.

Application filed December 16, 1915.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, KATRINA VAN R. GINN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Del Mar, in the county of San Diego and State of California, have invented a new and useful Device for the Care of Infants, of which the following is a specificaw tion. v

An object of this invention is to make provision for facilitating the care of infants, and especially to make it possible to care for infants without it being necessary for the attendant to lift and support them while bathing and dressing them, etc.

Another object is to make provision whereby an infant placed in the device may sleep therein and may be bathed and dressed Without it being necessary to remove the infant therefrom. i

Another object is to effect the foregoing by a construction having maximum efficiency and ease of operation.

Other objects and advantages may appear in the subjoined detailed description.-

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a device built in accordance with this invention, the canopy-supporting arm being shown eX- tended in dotted lines.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1, the trays being indicated in various positions in solid and in dotted lines respectively.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation on line indicated by Figs. 1 and 2, dotted lines indicating the gate in open position.

F ig.` Z1- is a view analogous to Fig. 3 with the container sho-wn in a raised position.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail partly in section on line indicated by @c5-*m5, Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is an elevation partly in section on irregular line indicated by mG-a, Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail of the trayholder locking device.

Fig. 8 is an elevation from the right of Fig. 7, solid lines indicating the tray-holder in position for use and dotted lines indicating said tray-holder folded or collapsed.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the bottom of the receptacle, a portion ofthe upper side of the covering being broken away for clearness of illustration.

There is provided a support in the form of a rectangular frame 1 having casters 2 so that it can be readily shifted from one Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 2o, 1917.

Serial No. 67,163.

position to another as desired. Said frame may be constructed of any suitable material,

`for instance of metal tubing or of reeds. In

practice I have used both.

The supporting frame 1 is provided with horizontal upper and lower end bars 3, l respectively to which are fastened respectively the upper and lower ends of vertical guide rods 5, there being a pair of said guide rods at each end of the frame. Said guide rods slide through perforations 6 of horizontal `guide members 7 which are connected by vertical rods 8 to horizontal end cross bars 9 of a container comprising in part a frame 10, said bars 9 being substantially midway between the top and bottom of the container frame and said frame being somewhat larger than the supporting frame 1 so as to telescope over said supporting frame 1.

Suitable means are provided to raise and lower the frame 10 relative to the frame 1 and for this purpose cords or wire cables 11, 12 are fastened by clips 13 to the upper end bars 3 respectively and pass downward around grooved pulleys 14 mounted on the slide members 7 respectively, and thence pass upward over grooved pulleys 15, 16 respectively mounted on the upper end bars 3. From the pulley 15 the cable 11 passes rearward to a pulley 17 and thence to a pulley 1S, the pulleys 17, 18 being mounted on brackets 19 attached to upper side rails 2O of the lower frame 1. From the pulley 1S the cable l1 passes forward over the pulley 1G alongside of the cable 12 and both cables ll, 12 pass from the pulley 16 to a drum 2l. mounted on a stub shaft 22 provided with a worm wheel 23 meshing with a worm 2i on a worm shaft 25 which turns in a, bearing 25 fastened to the frame 1, said worm shaftbeingv Aturned by a. miter gear 26 meshing with a miter gear 27 on a crank-shaft 28 provided with a handle 29 so that operation of the handle in one direc tio-n will raise the frame 10 relative to the frame 1 and when operated in the opposite direction will lower the frame l0.

The front side of the frame Il() forms a gate 3() having rearwardly converging arms 31 pivoted at 32 so that said gate may be swung upward over the top of the frame l0 and lowered on to stops 33 projecting inward from the frame 10.

The front end post 34 of the frame 10 is provided with outwardly projecting bearings 35 in which is j ournaled a vertical shaft 86 provided with laterally extending hori-' zontally swinging upper and lower arms 37, 88 that are provided at their free ends with vertical sleeves 89. Journaled in the vertical sleeves 39 are shafts 40 provided at their upper ends with pivot blocks 41 in which turn pivots 42 which proj ectA from trayholders 43 provided with trays 44 that may be ofplate glass or other .suitable material. From the foregoing it is clear that the trays 44 may be swung around the axis of the shaft 36 and may also be swung around the axes of the shafts 40 so as to bring them into a variety of positions relative to the frame 'l0I and. also that said trays can be swung around lthe axes of the pivots 42 so that saidl trays may be turned to diil'erent hori- 4zontal positions a, Z), Fig. 2, when it is desired to use them or may be turned vertically when it is desired to fold themalongside of one end of the frame 10 as shown in dotted lines c, Fig. 2, In order that the tray holders may bemaintained in the horizontal positions the pivotV blocks 41 are provided with sockets 45 engageable by detents in the form offpins 46, there being springs 47 tending to hold the pins 46 toward the sockets. The

Vsockets and pins 45, 46 are positioned so as to be in alinement with one another when the trays are in horizontal position.

One end of the frame 10 is provided with a bracket 48 on which is mounted a hollow standard 49 provided with an arm adaptedL to extend in horizontal Vposition for use as indicated in dotted lines at d, Fig. l, it being understood that a canopy of mosquito netting, not shown, or any suitable material may be supported by the arm 50.

Y Then the arml 50 is not in use, it may be Atom frame over which is stretched a coveringl 56 of cloth. Said frame 55 andl Y its covering 56 thus form the bottom of the receptacle 10. Suitable bedding, not shown, may be placed on the covering 56. Thus it is seen that with this construction the bottoni, 56 is supported only at its margins so that there will be no hard parts to interfere with the comfort and well-being ofthe occupant ofthe device.

The covering 56 is in the form of a bag or'receptacle fastened together temporarily at one end by tie strings or tapes 57, so that said covering can readily be slipped from the frame 55 and laundried when desirable.

rlhe frames l and l0 are open in front and below the covering 56 and the space within the frames l and l0 below the covering 56 is unobstructed so that the device can be drawn to straddle the lap of the attendant using the device, thus enabling the attendant to draw the device close to her body so as to minimize exertion of attending tothe occupant and facilitate the operations.

ln practice, assuming that the parts are in the positions shown inlfigs. l and 2S, an infant may be placed within the frame lt), and when the attendant desires to bathe or dress the infant or give it any desirable at tention that would be interfered with if the gate 30 were closed, said attendagnt will swing the gate 30 open to the dotted position c shown in Fig. 3 and will manipulate the handle 29 to bring the frame l0 to a convenient height over the lap of the attendant who, during the operation, may be seated in a chair.

It is seen that this invention is of great advantage inthe care of children, especially in large institutions like childrens hospitals where, without this invention, the children have to be lifted and handled by the attendants, and that thereby this invention lightens the labors of the attendants considerably so that they are enabled to attend to a great many more children than would otherwise be the case.

The pivots 32 are eccentric to the transverse dimension of the frame 10 to bring the gate 30 rearward of the rear side of said frame when the gate is in open position as clearly shown in dotted lines c, Fig. 8. Thus the gate is entirely out of the way when open and yet, owing to it being held by the stops 33 with its upper edge sub stantially on a level with the upper edge of the rear side of the frame 10,. said gate may be readily reached by the attendant from the front side of the device so as to close said gate whenit is desirable to do so.

I claim:

l. A device of the character described comprising telescoping frames, a bottom for one of said frames, and means to raise and lower the frame having the bottom, said frames being open in front beneath said bottom and the space within said frames beneath said bottom being unobstructed so that the device can be arranged to straddle the attendants lap.

2. A device of the character described comprising relatively adjustable telescoping frames, a bottom for one of said frames, said frames being open in front beneath said-bottom and the space within said frames beneath said bottom being unobstructed so that the device can be arranged to straddle the attendants lap.

3. A device of the character described comprising telescoping supporting and container frames, a bottom for the container frame, perforated slide members at the ends of the container frame passing through theperforations of the slide 1nembers,pulleys on the slide members respectively, other pulleys mounted on the supporting frame, a drum mounted on the supporting frame, still other pulleys mounted on the supporting frame rearward of said second pulleys, cables fastened to the supporting frame and passing to said lirst pulleys and thence passing to said second pulleys, one of said cables passing from its second pulley to the drum and the other cable passing from its second pulley to one of the rear pulleys and thence to the other rear pulley and thence to the other of said second pulleys and thence to the drum, and means to turn the drum to Wind and unwind the cables. Y

4. A device of the character described comprising a :trame having a bottom, one

side of said frame having arms pivoted at the ends of the frame to form a gate, and stops projecting rearward from said frame,

the pivots of said gate being eccentric to the side of said' second frame above said bottom forming a gate designed to swing upward over the top oi said second :trame to open, and'means to hold the second frame with its bottom at various heights relative to the first frame.

Signed at Del Mar, California, this 9th day of December, 1915.

KATRINA van R. GINN.

Vitnesses:

RUTH CROSBY, MAURICE E. GINN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommisisioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

